Buchanan’s gem leads Lakewood

Lakewood – The pitching of David Buchanan and the clutch hitting and speed of Anthony Hewitt and Zach Collier led Lakewood to a 3-1 victory over the Augusta, Ga. GreenJackets Monday night.
Buchanan (11-5, 3.38 ERA), the Phillies seventh round 2010 draft pick, yielded four hits over eight innings to take over the South Atlantic League lead in victories.
The 22-year old right-hander of the BlueClaws (17-14, 50-49) from Peachtree City, Ga., struck out seven and walked none.

“”He had it all going today,” Lakewood manager Chris Truby said. “”His slider was harder so he got some swings and misses on it. His change up was outstanding. He just kept them off balance.
“”He mixed it up, changed speeds on them, and kept them guessing.”
Truby said Buchanan commanded both sides of the plate with his fastball. “”Again being able to rely on the chanegup he had tonight, made everything work better.”

Ryan Duke, a 25th round pick of the Phillies this year from Oklahoma, where he is the all-time saves leader, allowed a two-out RBI single in the ninth to Rafael Rodriguez.
But Lakewood catcher Jeff Lanning then gunned down Rodriguez, who for some reason was trying to steal with his team two runs down, for the final out.
It secured Duke’s third save in as many chances since recently joining Lakewood from Williamsport.
Until the seventh the game, which was played in a steady light rain from the fourth inning on, was a scoreless pitching duel between Buchanan, a right-hander, and left-hander Michael Kickham (2-6) of the GreenJackets (17-13, 48-52).
Steve Singleton led off the seventh with a double to the rightfield corner, his third hit since the minor league veteran from the Minnesota farm system joined Lakewood five games ago.
Dominga Santana advanced him to third with a ground ball to first base.
Hewitt then lashed a 1-1 pitch through the left side of the drawn-in infield to send Lakewood in front and promptly stole his career high 26th base.
He reached third when Jeff Lanning greeted reliever Austin Flett with a single to left and the speedy Hewitt slid home ahead of Flett’s shovel toss to the plate on Carlos Perdomo’s suicide squeeze bunt.
In the top of the eighth shortstop Bobby Haney, the ninth-place hitter, was safe when his one-out ground ball got past first baseman Jim Murphy and rolled down the rightfield line on what was scored a two-base error.
Buchanan retired Carlos Willoughby on a fly ball to center and struck out Chris Lofton to end the inning.
He received a rousing ovation from the rain-braving fans behind the Lakewood dugout as he came to the bench.
In the bottom of the inning Zach Collier doubled. With two away Collier raced home when Santana grounded a ball into the left side hole and out ran Haney’s throw.

tonygsports@aol.com

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About Tony Graham

Long time Asbury Park Press reporter of local high school and collegiate sports. Proud Phan of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

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Keeping tabs on the future Phillies stars with the Lakewood BlueClaws

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Chris RotoloChris Rotolo graduated from The College Of New Jersey in May of 2011 and has been working in the Asbury Park Press' Sports Department since September of 2010 covering BlueClaws Baseball, Ice Hockey, Track & Field, and Cross Country, Tennis, and more. Follow along on Twitter: @rote7123E-mail Chris

Steve FalkSteve Falk has been a high school football writer at APP for a year. Previously, he was at the Ocean County Observer for 18 seasons.E-mail Steve